Star Wars opened 35 years ago today, which prompted Movieline pal Mike Ryan to probe the memories of contemporary filmmakers for a collective glimpse at the film's towering influence. It's a pretty diverse sample, from Jon Favreau to Diablo Cody to Gary Ross to Simon Pegg, but for my money, nothing beats Eli Roth's illustrated Star Wars comics... from age 8.
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Also in Thursday morning's briefs: Bill Clinton heads to Monaco for celebrity fundraising, Obama is criticized for helping Kathryn Bigelow's latest film on Osama bin Laden, and a pair of fan-friendly sites team up for ticket initiative.
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Now that there's no need to dance around spoilers (because everyone in the world saw it in theaters) we finally have an official Hunger Games trailer reel that includes the best scenes and plot turns of Katniss Everdeen's journey from District 12 huntress to The Girl on Fire. Revisit highlights from Lionsgate's mega-franchise adaptation with the Hunger Games Blu-ray trailer and see what's in store in the jam-packed bonus features on for the August 2-disc Blu-ray and DVD release.
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Ha! Kidding. But don't tell me you've never wanted to lick the guy. Wait, what? We can't have that privilege, either? What is going on here? Anyway, here are some sweet new postage stamps featuring directors John Huston, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Frank Capra. They are available today for philatelists and the snail-mail enthusiast in your life. (Hint, hint.) Read on for full details via the USPS and its partners at the American Film Institute.
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Also in Wednesday morning's news briefs: Lee Daniels finds his Jacqueline Kennedy for The Butler, Harvey Weinstein and Karl Lagerfeld seek a star at amfAR auction, Cannes Film Market reports an increase in attendance and screenings, and more...
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As much as I hate the movie theater talkers, cell phone texters, loud popcorn-chewers, backseat-kickers, nervous leg-jigglers, smelly food-eaters, and armchair hogs who combine evil forces to make going to the movies these days a distracting, living hell, I stop myself short of physical violence when it comes to laying down the law of theater etiquette. Which is what one enraged theater patron in the Seattle area did not do when he caught a case of theater rage and slapped an offending movie talker in the face. Making matters worse: The talker was a ten-year-old kid.
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"'Yeah, Romney. He's just such a disappointment, an embarrassment. Chin up, hair up. He's just one of those guys, one of those guys who says he's going to change everything. [...] And he'll get in there, and they'll smile at him and introduce themselves: "We're Congress, we make sure nothing changes." He won't do it. He can't. Everybody wants to be Barack Obama. And what did he change?'" [Esquire]
Last week we wondered if, as reported by the band Here We Go Magic during its ongoing tour, filmmaker John Waters was in fact hitchhiking his way across America. We had little reason to doubt that he was (who would lie about picking up John Waters in Ohio?), and now, with photographic evidence of Waters cropping up via Twitter, we have definitive answers at last. To wit, he's in... Kansas?
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So says Rufio himself! Chatting with Crave Online, Hook actor Dante Basco waxed nostalgic about imaginary food fightin' with Robin Williams in the 1991 cult flick and let slip that he's attached to produce a Rufio prequel, with Zorro director Rpin Suwannath at the helm. Of course, the project is A) currently only in development and B) going the indie route, so take it with a grain of salt. That said, in the spirit of the Lost Boys, let your inner kid dream big. Ru-fi-OOO!
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Also in Tuesday morning's news round up: Icon will produce Lee Daniels' next project, James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain team for a double-feature, Zac Efron and Seth Rogen will pair for a new project, and more...
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There's no writer or director, but whatever — let's get this rumor party started: "As MGM prepares to start production on RoboCop and Carrie later this year, the studio is going back to the vault again to develop a remake of John Sturges' 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven with Tom Cruise attached to star. [...] Sources caution that while Cruise has long been interested in saddling up for a Magnificent Seven remake, the project is still a long ways off and is not in Cruise's immediate plans." Next thing you know, they'll be stapling Sam Raimi's name to a Poltergeist remake or something. Oh, wait. [Variety]
As foreseen, Chinese exhibitor The Wanda Group has acquired AMC Entertainment — the second-largest theater chain in the US, comprising some 5,000 screens and 18,000 employees — from a domestic investment partnership for $2.6 billion, nearly 80 percent of which will go toward AMC's staggering debt. Pending approval by the feds in both countries, the deal will result in the world's biggest theatrical empire, one headquartered in a nation previously known as the most prodigious owner of US government debt. Come on, you know you're excited.
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Also in Monday morning's mostly Cannes news briefs: Samuel Goldwyn picks up Un Certain Regard debut for U.S., James Franco's collaborator heads to premiere documentary festival, Thomas Vinterberg resurfaces in Cannes with his latest, and for those lamenting a "No-Cannes-Do" this year, the weather has been pretty abysmal.
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The troubling disappearance of Nick Stahl into the missing-persons netherworld has a happy-ish ending: After contacting friends with news of his condition (read: alive), the actor checked himself into a rehab facility Saturday. His wife took her relief to Twitter, naturally: "Healing! Love for all. I am in recovery. But in no way do I or even should I represent recovery. I'm far to [sic] fallible. But again, I do hope that there is a silver lining to this event and I have been truly inspired to keep on keepin on. I have no more comments." Anyway! This happened. [E!]
Also in Saturday's (mostly) Cannes related news round up, actress Isabella Rossellini gets a new festival jury gig, Lincoln Center teams with Dubai to spotlight Arab cinema, and two groups join for a $150 million equity fund for indie filmmakers. Also check out this weekend's specialty film releases.
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